VAT contributed $456,6 million against a target of $558,1 being 26 percent of total revenue collected, translating to an interim negative variance of 18 percent.

The performance of the revenue head is expected to remain depressed until industrial capacity utilisation improves. Individual tax collections amounted to $429,5 million against a target of $346 million, resulting in a positive variance of 24 percent largely driven by PAYE.

Mr Pasi said the strong performance was a result of efforts Zimra undertook to recover unpaid individual tax revenue, but anticipated revenue boost from retrenchments were affected by companies' failure to pay.

The strong performance of the individual tax head was expected to be sustained at least in the short-term as the recovery project under the PAYE was still underway.

Company tax contributed $196,5 million against a target of $190 million, resulting in a positive variance of 3 percent. The performance of the revenue head could be attributed to intensive audits and debt management strategies implemented by the authority.

The performance of this revenue head could slightly improve in the second half of the year as 65 percent is expected from quarterly payment date instalments compared to 35 percent that was due and payable in the first half.
- The Herald